Hello, I'm alive.

Father Viper. Rapist, bandit, serial killer, slaver. A perfect recipe for a guiltless kill. Six liked these kinds of targets. A clear cut human waste meant she didn't have to wrestle with the morality of killing. Six walked down the metal ramp, already beginning to sweat. Despite the wind whipping the sands, Six walked through the town with ease thanks to her armor.

Six paid the driver to the outskirts of Shady Sands, a frontier town that led to Father Viper's hideout. As expected, Shady Sands was not bad as the Mojave, a common theme anywhere around Remnant. In the dusty red sands, sheds and buildings made off of trailer trucks were the homes of many people, reminding Six of many settlements that did not have a pre-war house, there was even a saloon that looked almost identical to Goodsprings saloon. Six entered the saloon.

"Not often a new face wanders here. What can I get you?"

Six took a seat at the counter. "A cup of water." Six said.

The bartender's eyes narrowed. "That's still going to cost you."

"I know, just get me one."

Six swished the water in her mouth and savored the cool liquid like liquor. Learning the value of hydration early on determined life or death to any wastelanders.

"I reckon you're here to hunt down Father Viper."

"I'm not the first am I?" Six said.

"And I reckon you won't be the last. We made these walls and have guards just so they won't try, not that this stops them." The bartender said.

Six brought out a small notepad and a pen. "Tell me everything about them."

"Look, I'm not saying you're not good enough. But if you die they're gonna know it was the town that told them. That's why we stopped helping you bounty hunters."

Six sipped on her water. "The desert's my element, I can get them, trust me."

The bartender paused, she stared at Six's outfit, all practical without flair that many Vale bounty hunters do. There was also something about the bounty hunter that made her worth betting the town's safety on, a gut feeling that could not be described.

"Go north for thirteen miles and you'll see a canyon, there should be a wooden post of a cow skull, keep following that. But you should know there are patrols. You're going into a straight trap."

"I'll make due, thank you for your help," Six said.

"I didn't hear any vehicles… you're not going on foot are you?"

"Of course I am, vehicles are going to just announce that I'm here. Don't worry, it's not my first time—"

"Vipers!"

Six shot out of her seat and sprinted outside. Gunshots echoed, motors roared, screams overlapped, and arrows flew past the walls. Six unslung the anti-material rifle and joined the battlements with stacked sandbags.

"What— who the hell are you?" A man with a bushy beard in leather armor said.

"Shut up and fight!" Six said.

The bandits rode on motorcycles, some with a sidecar, much like the Legion, but unaccompanied by infantry. Six loaded her magazine inside her anti-material rifle then pulled the bolt.

"Cavalry without infantry support… they really are just raiders.'

Among the sounds of chaos, a thunderous boom cracked, and a hole was punched through a bandit. With each boom, a bandit fell, motorcycles tumbled in the sands. In a matter of minutes, Six took down the raider party. The man in the leather armor spoke again.

"Who are you?"

"Courier Six, I'm a bounty hunter here to take Father Viper. Considering I just saved the town's bullets I think I'm owed a little compensation aren't I?"

[][][][][]

The sand-mobile whirled quietly, slithering through the vast desert. Three hours later, the lines of the canyon emerged from the horizon. An hour later, she saw the brahmin shaped skull post. Six watched through her binoculars. A group of three men and two women patrolled the wide field of sand, dressed in leather harness and ratty pants.

"They look straight out of the Mojave…" Six muttered to herself

Six dismounted from her sand-mobile and walked toward the nearest. The weight of her weapons and armor did not slow her climbing speed, Six reached to the top of the shortest canyon. From there, she began walking and climbing, scouting with her binoculars and avoiding patrols. Like the Vipers of the Mojave, they were easy to outmaneuver mostly due to their inebriation or intoxication of whatever they consumed.

Through the narrow passageways of the canyons, by the time she arrived the sun dipped below the horizon. The shattered moon illuminated the red rocks, the fires of the camp glowed, and the raiders began to drink. Six counted the current occupants of the camp and added the patrolling groups, all in the total of twenty three. A silent sigh escaped her lips. No weapons in her arsenal would make this an easy job, made worse when a proof of the bounty was required.

Unless…

Six saw the barrels of dust in the open, glittering nearby the open fire. Something rustled behind. Six snapped into action, turning behind to see three vipers that tried to sneak behind she fanned her revolver. Three shots, three kills. The shots however, alerted the entire camp. Shouts filled the canyons, the torches moved like glowing bloatflies.

"God damn it…"

The sand flew under Six's boots as she ran.

"It was from over there!"

"Shit shit shit!"

A high pitched scream echoed, a small flare rose in the air, then, bang. The light of the sun illuminated the sky. The sand-mobiles' guttural growls roared in the distance, then closer and closer, the light of the sand mobile pinned her location. Six planted her feet, then fired. The anti-material rifle bellowed, declaring its and Six's presence. The .50 MG punched the sand-mobile to a halt.

"We found her!"

"The Father wants her alive, he wants to make an example!"

More sand-mobiles followed, arrows whistled past. Then something cold pierced her back, a familiar sensation that needed no ponderance. Her feet began to slog and her vision blurred, but a small dose like this did not slow her down.

"She's still standing! Just knock her out!"

The sand-mobiles circled Six. The vipers bared their fangs, drawing their blades and clubs. Six unsheathed her combat knife, then cracked her neck. The GRX implant flushed into her bloodstream. The world slurred. Six saw the spit from the viper's mouth, the grains of sand flying in the air, and her knife slitting through the viper's flesh. The blade danced between the vipers, carving, flaying, skinning, coating the blade with red.

An axe sailed in the air, fastest she has ever seen while GRX still activated. The thick ax clashed against her knife, sending her back. A tall dark skinned man grinned, he licked his lips as he winded up his arms. Then, the world returned to normalcy. The crowd began to chant: Father, Father, Father, right before he began to glow red.

"Oh what in he—"

The Father, despite his bulky body, moved fast as a deathclaw. All Six saw before being knocked out was the butt of his axe.